


Convalescence

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Jack being somewhat of a decent human, M/M, Sick Fic, Single Dad AU, Slight Hurt/Comfort, sick Cyrus, super fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 21:40:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6874660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"However, his forced good mood soon faltered when the first couple of kids that he visited were way too sick to even fake interest in him. Some of them seemed a little brightened, but not by much, and god it was starting to depress the hell out of him. Usually he got a kick out of watching people die, but that was when it was by his hand, not this. Not dying slowly and smelling like antiseptic and shit while you went. That wasn’t nearly as funny as choking someone with their own guts.  </p>
<p>Jack grimaced as he read up on the next kid he was supposed to visit on his comm. Cyrus Somerset, seven years old with congestive heart failure—that didn’t sound fun at all. Jack groaned to himself, already dreading it."</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>Single Dad AU side story, where Jack visits sick kids for PR reasons and meets Cyrus and his hot omega father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Convalescence

**Author's Note:**

> Done for a Tumblr request: "I have a single Dad AU prompt if you'd like. As part of Handsome Jack's duties, he does some charity work. In this case, visiting sick kids in hospital, cheer them up, etc. He meets one kid, who, despite being very sick, is absolutely thrilled to meet him. His name is Cyrus, and his Dad/Mom is one hot piece of ass. Said hottie is currently distraught over having a very sick child. Jack seeks to remedy that. Miracle cures ftw? New kidneys? Whatever you like."
> 
> I really enjoyed this prompt, so I hope you like it too! This is kind of an AU of the single dad AU, just something someone wanted to see so I went ahead and did it. c:

Jack didn’t know what the hell he was doing here, in the pediatric wing of Helios’ foremost hospital.  _Rationally_ , he knew that he was here to make some sick and dying kids feel a little less like shit, but now that he was here and everything smelled too clean and dull and he felt like kicking himself for agreeing to this. 

His PR team argued that it would help out with the whole “hero image” thing, to which Jack countered as to why they thought he even  _needed_  any help with that, and that maybe they should choose their words better unless they wanted a one-way ticket to Elpis. 

Jack didn’t particularly like kids—they brought up  _way_ too many bad memories, not to mention they smelled and cried and didn’t  _do_  anything other than eat and sleep and annoy people. Most of them couldn’t even hold a gun right. Jack didn’t really get the  _point_ of them. 

He figured he’d just grin and strike a pose and wave his gun around a few times, make the little monsters clap and smile and then be on his way. So he tried to wipe the aggravated scowl from his face, putting on a winning smile and his best devilish, heroic swagger as he scanned the first little brat he was supposed to cheer up. 

However, his forced good mood soon faltered when the first couple of kids that he visited were way too sick to even fake interest in him. Some of them seemed a little brightened, but not by much, and _god_ it was starting to depress the hell out of him. Usually he got a kick out of watching people die, but that was when it was by  _his_ hand, not  _this_. Not dying slowly and smelling like antiseptic and shit while you went. That wasn’t nearly as funny as choking someone with their own guts.  

Jack grimaced as he read up on the next kid he was supposed to visit on his comm. Cyrus Somerset, seven years old with congestive heart failure— _that_  didn’t sound fun at all. Jack groaned to himself, already dreading it. He would much rather be back in his office, dropping assholes through the chute in his floor, than trying to cheer up a kid whose ticker was about to kick it. 

He rapped twice on the door, before coming in anyway. Jack was expected another disinterested kid, too in pain or doped up on medication to care who was by their side, but instead he heard a happy cry, his eye quickly drawn to the kid sitting straight up in the bed, hand’s clasped together around an overstuffed robot plush. Sitting in the chair next to him was a skinny, leggy man—omega, by the smell of the air—who looked exhausted, but perked up a little too when Jack entered the room. 

“Mr. Handsome, you came! Look, mom, he’s here! I told you he’d come!” The kid wiggled, the sheets covering his little body kicking up a little bit. He still looked sick despite his excitement, his face pale and little thin wrists exposed above a yellow sweatshirt. He had a little tube running from his nose and there were bruised bags under his eyes, but he still looked brightly at Jack, a big smile bunching up his little cheeks.The omega next to him managed a tired simper, his hand reaching out to rest on the kid’s covered knee. 

“H-Hello, sir, thank you for coming…” The omega looked too exhausted and stressed to put up much more than token subservience to Jack. Whatever—Jack was just glad this room had a little more life in it, and as trigger happy as he was, air locking someone for not showing adequate amount of fear just wasn’t that appealing right now. 

So instead he put on a swagger, making a beeline to the kid’s bed and smiling a winning grin down at him as he stood in his trademark pose, hands on his hips.

“ ‘Sup, kiddo. How ya feeling’ today? Better, now that your hero is here, I bet?”

“Yes sir Mr. Handsome sir!” The child giggled, clear awe in his face as he stared up at the imposing alpha. 

“What they keeping you in for, kiddo?” Jack knew, had already read the kid’s file, but he asked anyway to keep up the banter. 

“Doctor says my heart’s being bad.” Cyrus pouted, kicking his feet against the sheets again. “I wanna go out and play but mom says I can’t.” The boy frowned further and snuggled his robot toy “I tried to play before but then I woke up here. Are you gonna play with me Mr. Handsome sir?”

“Ehh, uh… _sure_  kid! Yeah, lemme just…” Most of the other kids had been listless and disinterested beyond Jack’s initial appearance, but this one was different. Jack sat on the edge of the bed, aware of the way the seated omega watched him warily, as he unclipped the pocket watch hanging from his lapel, presenting it on a flat palm before the kid’s dazzled eyes. 

“You ever see a neat piece of tech like this up close, buddy? Watch this.” With a swift press of his finger he activated it, his body cloaking temporarily in front of the boy and his guardian. The omega started, hands instinctively reaching out to the child, but Cyrus merely let out an awed gasp as Jack reappeared in a shimmery crackle. He let the kid hold the device, making sure he didn’t accidentally activate it before taking it back and clipping it back onto his person. 

“You grow up all strong and handsome, get out of this place, and I’ll let ya have all the cool toys you want, you hear?” He ruffled the kids hair, leaving it sticking up in messy cowlicks. “You just believe in Handsome Jack, kid, and in no time you’re gonna be out of this place and out killing bad guys right beside me. Sound good, buddy?” Jack chuckled, carefully poking the kid’s little chest.

“Yes sir Mr. Handsome sir!”

“That’s my boy!”

Jack found himself…. _weirdly_  charmed by the sick kid in the bed. Jack was used to feared awe and creepy obsession, but the kid before him seemed to genuinely be excited that Jack was there. It was kind of a nice break.

He gave Cyrus the care package full of memorabilia emblazoned with his face that he was required to, and before long the kid was tucked under a tent-like Hyperion blanket with a couple dozen posters and signed pictures laid out on the chair next to him. 

The nurse soon bustled in, saying it was time for a nap, hooking up a new bag to Cyrus’ IV that put the kid to sleep while the omega stroked his little hand. Usually, this was Jack’s cue to leave, but he hung around, the nurse not willing to challenge Jack to get him out of the room. The CEO stood over Cyrus’ bed, arms crossed, observing the kid with a contemplative look on his face. Across the bed, the omega in the chair squirmed, giving Jack brief, nervous glances as they were left alone. 

“Cute kid.” Jack spoke, voice low. His nostrils flared as he glanced from the seated omega to the kid in the bed. “He yours?” He asked, though the subtle similarities in scent answered the question for him.

“Ah…yeah. He’s mine.” The omega spoke, nervously rubbing his wrist. Jack narrowed his eyes at the man’s right hand poking from underneath his blue cardigan—all yellow and white and grey in an undeniable Hyperion-grade cybernetic. Huh. Interesting. 

“You got a name, sweetheart?” Jack strode around the bed to where the omega sat, appraising his guarded position. He looked young for having a kid of Cyrus’ age. He was pale like the kid, though the bags under his eyes spoke of a different source of exhaustion. His hair fell in soft waves around his face, bangs brushing his forehead and nearly hiding a pair of mismatched eyes—one brown, one a vibrant blue. 

“Um…Rhys, sir.” The omega continued to fiddle with his cybernetic as Jack took a seat next to him, casually throwing an arm around the back of the omega’s chair. Hitting on the parent of a sick kid was low, even for him, but  _damn it_  Jack had been depressed as hell for the past few hours before and he needed some kind of distraction now that Cyrus was asleep.

“What’s he need, cupcake?” Jack jerked his head in direction of the sleeping kid on the bed. 

Rhys sighed, glancing at Jack with a guarded look.

“He….at this point…he needs a new heart.”

“That all?” Rhys raised his eyebrow, mouth opened in an affronted ‘o.’ 

“I…well…heart transplants are expensive…”

“You got that sweet piece of tech, though?” Jack tapped Rhys arm, causing the omega to start, “if you could afford that, then can’t you afford a new ticker for the kid?”

“I…” Rhys began, worrying his fingers together, twisting one cybernetic digit between two flesh ones. “I got this before Cyrus was born. Since then things….things have been been harder….with  _two_ …”

“Two? You got no alpha to help ya along?” 

“H….his dad left once I figured out I was pregnant.” Jack creased his brow, letting out a small growl. Alphas leaving omegas wasn’t unheard of, but it left a nasty taste in the man’s mouth. Alphas who ditched pregnant omegas were knotless cowards who deserved nothing less than being mulched into skag feed. 

“Wow, that’s shit. Sorry about that, pumpkin.”

“Um. Yeah, I guess?” Rhys shot him a curious glance, which Jack ignored. Hey, he could stand to make idle conversation every once and awhile. And this omega smelled good, and Jack hadn’t been this close to one in a long time. So, fuck it. 

“So, kid needs a new heart, huh?”

“Yeah. He’s been on the list for about a year now, ever since thing started getting really bad. Intact hearts are hard to find, that’s the excuse they gave me. Especially for children Cyrus’ age…” Rhys sighed, rubbing his temples, the alpha’s comforting scent plying his tongue. “And cloning is just….it’s too expensive.”

A long silence stretched between the two of them. The omega next to Jack seemed to deflate slightly, unconsciously leaning in towards the alpha’s scent as he closed his eyes, clearly exhausted. Jack didn’t do much to stop it. He could use the hormonal pick me up that a needy, tired omega provided, and he was sure that Rhys needed a big, handsome alpha body to lay against. Jack heard him breath in deep, letting out a shuddery exhale. A grin pulled at the man’s lip—oh, Jack knew this behavior, knew how omegas behaved when ensconced in the scent of an alpha, especially one of his caliber. He let his broad hand rest on Rhys’ back, thumb rubbing slightly against the juncture between his neck and shoulder. Jack wasn’t about to fuck with the bonding site, but hey, he could get close. Giving the omega an inkling of what his body needed. 

Rhys was starting to nod off as he leaned against Jack, easing into the man’s heady scent. It was only when his head dipped into Jack’s chest that he started awake, arms thrashing and nearly socking Jack in the stomach before the alpha grasped Rhys’ wrists.

“Woah woah woah hey, pumpkin, where’s the fire?” Jack chuckled lowly at the confused fear in Rhys eyes as they focused on Jack’s face, the omega realizing just what he had been doing. 

“I-I-I’m sorry, sir, I shouldn’t have….I…uh….d-don’t kill me?” Rhys offered weakly, wrists flexing in Jack’s grasp. The alpha snorted, rolling his eyes. 

“I ain’t killing you, sugar. Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you’d have been lying on the floor with your neck snapped halfway through that lil’ nap of yours.” He felt the omega shiver before Jack settled his hands in his lap and giving them a swift pat. 

“ _Weeeell_ , it’s been fun, but I gotta scram, baby. You smell pretty damn good for someone who looks half-dragged by a skag, but you know. Places to see, people to do.” The CEO snickered and rose to his feet, cheeky grin softened for a moment as he glanced over to the child still sleeping soundly in the bed. Jack grumbled to himself, rubbing the back of the neck.

“Tell the kiddo I said bye, okay?” And with that the man was gone, swaggering through the halls with an unusual warmth clouding up his chest. 

* * *

Rhys could barely sleep the next few days as Cyrus remained in the hospital, fear overtaking him that this time, the doctors wouldn’t give Cyrus the clearance to go home. He spent most of his waking hours sitting in the same chair, reading Cyrus his favorite stories or holding his little hand and trying not to think of how thin it’d become. When Cyrus napped and the nights grew too long, Rhys even found himself drawn into his child’s bed, snuggling Cyrus’ small body, trying not to disturb the myriad of tubes hooked up to the child as he held him. 

He was startled from this very position one morning as the door clicked open and shut. Rhys shot awake, rubbing his eyes and looking sheepishly at the doctor as moved back into the chair, hand lingering near Cyrus little fingers. 

The doctor had a bemused grin, but—undeniably a  _grin_ on his face, which surprised the omega, consider this particular hospital visit had been nothing but distress.

“We’ve got some good news…” The doctor began, smiling softly at the omega. “There’s been very uh…. _generous_  donation, made specifically for your son.”  

“You mean…”

“Usually, we don’t allow this sort of thing but…well, lets say you don’t say no to this kind of donor. Or question where they found a heart matching Cyrus’ development and tissue type…” The doctor let out a nervous laugh, adjusting his glasses. 

“In any case, if you consent to it, we can get Cyrus into the operating room no later than the weekend.”  Rhys mouth fell open, his eyes growing warm as he stared at the doctor, still unable to fully process what he’d said. The omega couldn’t help it, sobbing into his hands, his body shaking with relieved cries.

After arranging a few more tests to make sure Cyrus was ready for surgery, the doctor left, once again congratulating Rhys before leaving the tearful omega alone with the slowly stirring Cyrus. Once the child was awake, Rhys couldn’t resist picking him up in a close embrace, only managing to explain to Cyrus what miracle had happened once his sobs had died down. Cyrus’ confused face instantly lit up at the news, letting out a happy squeak as he hugged his mother back, nuzzling his face into Rhys’ chest. The omega held his son close as Cyrus glanced up at him, eyes full of life and excitement.  

“See, mom! I believed in Mr. Jack, and everything turned out okay!”

**Author's Note:**

> Though Jack would probably have little problem getting his hands on a kid-sized heart....he probably cloned this one, lets be real. Less messy. 
> 
> I grew really attached to this prompt, so there might be a second part of this where Cyrus goes through surgery. <3 comments are appreciated! Thanks for reading.


End file.
